


Lowlife

by Dritkin



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Broken Bones, Gen, Help, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Michelangelo (TMNT)-centric, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 06:18:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18337874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dritkin/pseuds/Dritkin
Summary: Their latest fight against the Foot went by very smoothly, as smoothly as it could ever get at least. But, unbeknownst to his siblings, Mikey is keeping quite a big secret.





	Lowlife

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning, this is a bit of an oldie, so of course, things aren't the best. (Doesn't help that I have no idea how broken bones work)  
> (God help me)  
> (P.s just in case it's a little confusing, this isn't just a human au, but one where Tang Shen lived and was the mother to the turtles (she may not appear here, but I figured I'd explain just in case anyway)  
> Also, Karai's here but she's Miwa.

There was a burning pain in the young Hamato's chest. It was something he'd never be able to properly describe. It just hurt like hell. It burned, it stung. It sent shots of sudden pain up his back and it felt like needles were stabbing into his hips. Not to mention the millions of pounds was crushing down on his ribs. It was quite hard to breathe, every second he seemed to be wheezing for air.

And despite all the pain, he ignored it. He felt like he **had** to. What else would he do? Cause a scene, worry everyone? No. He just opted to just sit back and wait for whatever wounds he may have had to heal. It couldn't take _that_ long, right? He didn't want to worry his family in any way with his whining.

Right now, he was sitting in art class, uncomfortably shifting in his seat every so often, as his chest every once in a while sent a shot of pain up his body. It took him every muscle not to scream, as he blinked away the unsed tears of pain.

He was thankful that this was his last class of the day, and after this he could rush home and hopefully sleep off the pain over the weekend. He was also thankful for the fact that his loud and rambunctious class didn't care to notice his discomfort for a second.  
Except for his friend ZJ.  
He definitely noticed something was up.

Mikey could tell he did as he kept eyeing him for uncomfortably long amounts of time every time he choked back a pained cry or hugged his chest.  
Mike refused to look him in the eyes. He feared that ZJ'd be able to pick apart that something was wrong in seconds if he let him, not that he didn't already know there was something wrong. I mean, his best friend, whom had quite the reputation for being loud, energetic and impatient, was sitting quietly in class doing absolutely nothing. The obvious pain he was in was the more obvious thing.

The bell was now seconds away from ringing. Mikey tensed up in his seat as he just wanted to leave already, he wanted to rush home, and not for the usual reasons of finally getting to play that one videogame or skateboard with Jason before his parents got home. No, he just wanted to sleep.  
But then he felt someone nudge him in the shoulder, there was no way he couldn't notice, as his chest burned in pain due to the force, he had to bite his tongue hard to prevent a scream, he looked up and met ZJ's eyes. He could see worry hiding behind them. And while ZJ said nothing, Mikey could see his eyes asking "What's wrong?".

Still super tensed and in a lot of pain, Mikey talked to him quickly, and almost incoherently.  
"Man I'm so goddamn happy that art has no exams. I already can't handle having to do four, never mind five." Mikey let out a dry laugh, he caught himself at the last minute before he started coughing or screamed in pain.

ZJ looked unimpressed at his answer to his silent, unasked question. One Mikey knew he was asking, but didn't want to answer honestly.

And just then, the bell gave a sudden, loud, deafening ring, and Mikey ran out the class like a bat out of hell and down the hall before ZJ could blink. Oh boy, did Mike really not want to tell him about how he thinks his ribs are broken.

Without even waiting for his older brothers or sister to walk home with him, Mikey found himself running for as long as he could all the way home. He was thankful that his parents sent him to a school that was so close to the his family's dojo.

He got home in about sixteen minutes flat, god he was also thankful that not only were his siblings not home yet, but his parents were out of town all week as well.  
He had so much luck when it came to hiding all this, he was surprised life even let him get hurt in the first place.

Mikey didn't dwell too long, he didn't want to risk his siblings coming home too soon and seeing him the way he was.  
Completely. Utterly. **Broken.**

He pushed back the pain as raced to his bedroom upstairs. He slammed the door as hard as he could, taking only a second to question how the hell the door was still on it's hinges.  
He then let out a sigh as he collapsed on his bed, only to let out a yelp as he landed on the wounds wrong.

Holy fuck did everything hurt.  
There's no way in hell did he not break something. He _had_ to have broken something.  
He didn't like that thought however. It was a thought that Mikey forced out of his mind the best he could.  
_Maybe it's_ _a_ _cold. Maybe_   _it's all just from the bruising_. _Maybe I-_  
Mikey tried to rationalize the pain as anything but broken bones.  
He didn't want to think of what would happen to him if that's what the pain was from.

He sat up in the bed. His back and sides were hurting wat too much to lay down on.

Mikey had been afraid to look at it all day, but as he stood in front of his wardrobe mirror his curiosity got the better of him.  
He carefully took off his jacket before grabbing the bottom of his shirt, he hesitated for a while to lift it and see the damage.  
He let out shaky and uneven breaths.  
And slowly pult his shirt up, knowing if he quickly did it, it would hurt.

Mikey looked in horror at himself. Dark redish bruises littered his chest, big, purple and red bruises. What looked like large, messy looking red scratch like marks were on the places where his chest hurt the most. The bruises were absolutely everywhere Mike could see, from his collarbone down to his stomach. That Footbot had hit him quite a lot, but was it really  _that_ many times?  
He unconsciously let his shirt fall back down and he stood as still as a statue.  
_Oh God, it is bad._

As if on cue. Mikey heard the front door open and slam shut seconds later.  
And he heard his name being called by his brothers.

He winced, in his panicked state everything seemed a lot louder now.

Mikey limped to his bedroom door, a little hesitant to open it, he eventually swallowed his pride as he peeked out into the hallway, still hearing his siblings call his name.

"Y-yeah?" He attempted to yell back, it came out as a pathetic whine.

Looking out down the hallway, he saw his eldest brother, Leonardo, already walking towards his room. His 'pissed off older brother' look took over his concern after seeing him in his room.

"Why'd you leave without us? You know father and mother have forbidden us from walking back home alone!" Leo scolded him, making himself sound like their father, which Mikey never liked.  
Leo's face softened once he saw how badly his little brother winced at the yell. He placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, careful not to freak him out (but the pained wince definitely didn't go unnoticed).

Leo tried to ask again, this time more calmly, "Why did you leave without us?"

Mikey clamed up. Embarrassed that he pretty much ran away from his siblings without a word.  
The younger 14 year old looked up at his brother sheepishly, "I came home a few hours ago. Got sick in class dude."  
Worry was back on Leo's face. Mikey got scared when he remembered that Jason and ZJ would be able to pick apart his story and tell his family he was lying. He'd have to text them in a minute and ask them to cover for him.

There was a look in Leo's eyes that seemed unconvinced with Mikey's story. It didn't help that Mikey's eyes were threatening to betray him with tears, he no longer could tell if they were of pain, or stress.

They heard loud footsteps stomping up the stairs, and before he was even in sight, Mikey could tell it was his other big brother Raphael, and now the thought of him confronting Mikey made him want to run back in his room, lock the door and not come back out until the sun exploded, if only Leo wasn't standing in the way.

"So what's his problem?" Raph asked rudely, but it was a tone of voice Mike had gotten use to hearing him talk in.  
Leo still stared him down for his rudeness, and Raph, who wasn't even afraid of Leo, awkwardly cringed back when Leo's eyes fell on him, _Oh no, they know it's bad._

But after a few unbearably tense minutes of silence, Leo sighed, and shrugged, "I don't know."  
Now Mikey felt tension grow even more, and oh boy did he hate when these two argued.

"What? Jesus Christ Leo, did you even ask him?!" Despite anger filling most of his voice, Mikey and Leo still heard a hint of worry in him. Even if he didn't show it very well, Raph loved his siblings with all his heart, some would even say he was a bit overprotective of their youngest.

Leo turned his attention back to Mikey, and the young teen felt all eyes on him now. _Aw man, anxiety mixed with the pain makes this so much worse._  
"I did ask."  
Raph looked at Leo dumbfounded.  
"And obviously what I was told was a load of horseshit." (That last word made everyone on this side of earth tense up, Leo was never one to curse.)

Now Raph's look of worry changed to disapproval along with Leo.  
Leo carefully put an arm on Mikey's shoulder and the younger one almost winced at the pain that shot through him. It hurt worse as he tried to keep as still as possible.

"Mikey, something happened and I just want to know if you're okay."

Mikey straightened himself back up to protest, "I told you bro, I got sick after lunch so I went home ear-"

"Cut the shit." A feminine voice came up the stairs, the boys looked over and saw their eldest sister, Miwa, walk over, looking equally as upset as Raph first did, and Mikey knew he was done for.

"When we couldn't find you, we asked ZJ where the hell you were and he said you'd just ran off without a word. Then we asked April and she said she saw you run outside like there was a fire or something. And this was all at the end of the day mind you."  
Mikey cringed back as he was caught in his lies. The way he cringed back however, sent another bad shot of pain up his sides, one that he didn't manage to hold back.  
And the way he lunged forward grabbing his chest with one hand and covering his month to stop a scream with the other didn't go unnoticed.

Leo led him back to his bed and sat him down. He tried to do a quick one over to see if he was hurt (okay, more like WHERE he was hurt), but Mikey backed away everytime, hugging his chest as carefully but as tightly as he could.

"Mikey, just tell us what's going on." Miwa said carefully, for the first time in forever, she didn't speak in her harsh, sarcastic sounding voice. But with actual worry.

Mikey was almost tempted to play the sick card again ("I've been coughing all day, and my chest just hurts!"). Before he remembered that he was caught in a lie the last time he used it, thus it most likely wouldn't work this time around.

He tried so hard to keep it to himself. He didn't even know why he wanted to anymore. His mind was just so jambled up.

But Leo actually realized very quickly what might be wrong, Mikey thought his big brother had probably seen it a million times before.  
He quickly put his hand up and placed it on Mikey's chest before his brother could swat him away.  
And Michelangelo's loud yelp of pain told him he was most likely right.

Raph and Miwa caught on in seconds.

"Mikey lift your shirt up." Raph demanded.

"Guys I'm f-"

"Mikey. Do it."

Mikey let out one last shaky breath before carefully lifting his shirt.  
His siblings shared the same look of horror he originally had once they saw all the dark red bruises that littered their baby brother's chest.

"I-I think-"

"Your ribs are broken." The Hamato siblings turned to see Donatello, their second youngest brother, looking at Mikey with almost more horror than his elder siblings. Mostly because he knew exactly what was wrong.

Everyone turned eyes back to their youngest, shock and fear lingering on their faces.

"I-I was gonna tell you." Mikey tried to defend himself, "I just wanted to make sure it was actually serious before..."  
No one could believe it, that Mikey would hide something so life-threatening from them.

Donnie rushed over to the bedside, practically pushing his older siblings out of the way so he could do a quick check of his younger. He had none of his equipment on him to do a proper checkup, but he just needed to be sure Mikey was stable enough to be transported downstairs.

"Okay, we're good for now. Help me bring him downstairs." Donnie demanded, urgency in his voice that made the others spring into action.

The elder Hamato's helped their youngest brother down to Donnie's basement lab. Mikey was still thankful that neither their mother or father were home still, it'd be pure hell if that were the case.

Raphael helped Mikey sit down on a metal table in the lab (Leo always questioned how the hell he got what looked like a morgue table down there in the first place), and Donnie got to work, trying to figure out how bad the break was.  
The three eldest Hamato's sat impatiently off to the side as Donnie scanned Mikey with his homemade (or stolen, Donnie'd never tell) x-ray.

Soon, Donnie turned off his equipment, he fell back in his office chair and gave a relieved sigh, one that at least calmed some of the nerves of his siblings.

Miwa was the first one to rush and ask "How bad is he?" Mikey felt his heart clench at the worry in her voice.  
He just felt terrible about how much he was worrying everyone.  
And he didn't know if he should feel more bad about not telling them sooner, or not being more careful to hide it.

Donnie stood up and walked over to his medicine cabinet, talking as he walked, "Nothing actually looks too bad." A sigh of relief swept through the lab.

"But-"

Raph growled "Of course there's a but."

"His ribs are still broken. The bright side is that it just looked like clean cracks, which usually can go without surgery. We'll just have to keep him home and in bed for a while. No rough play," Don glared at Raph, which made him sink in in himself in embarrassment "No training or patrolling." As he did with Raph, Donnie glared at Leo, and the eldest brother rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "He needs the rest, and he'll be fine."

Despite the fact that Donnie said he was good enough to not need surgery, Mikey still tensed at the thought of it.

But Leo was still just as tense as he first was.  
"What's the down side?"

Donnie huffed out a sharp breath, still trying to calm his shot nerves, "That his ribs are broken and the wrong movement could be..." Donnie trailed off, not exactly sure what was the right word to use.

All Mikey's older siblings let out a loud sigh, said sighs sounded relieved, but also very annoyed in a way.

Raphael walked over and sat down next to him on the cold metal table, "Why didn't you tell us?" He asked accusingly, his voice was lower and angrier than Mikey liked.

"I was gonna!" Mikey whined, wincing again as pain flared up in his lungs, but that didn't convince his siblings.

Miwa was burning a hole into him with the sharp fury in her eyes, "You got these wounds yesterday morning. You wouldn't have waited that long if you were gonna tell us." Mikey cringed back again. Great, so Miwa fully knows what happened. It made sense to him, she saw him getting beaten up and helped him. It was just weird she waited so long to say something.

Desperate to get himself out of trouble, Mikey kept making up lies to save himself.  
"I just forgot!"

Donnie scowled at that, as he walked back with medicine and such in hand.  
"You **forgot** about your **broken ribs?!"** He snapped.

Mikey was conflicted, honestly, he didn't want to straight up admit that he only didn't want to worry everyone, that he didn't want to bug them with his usual whining and complaining when it truly was nothing serious. He didn't want to sound stupid, or make his brothers and sister mad or upset at him (like they weren't already). His mind was just a jumbled mess of screaming thoughts. He didn't know what to do with himself anymore.  
He didn't even notice that he started crying. Nor did he notice the worried eyes on him. Nor did he notice Donnie's guilty look at making him cry.

But he did notice as Leo knelt down in front of him, grabbing his hand gently.  
"It's okay Michelangelo. It's alright."

Mikey took in a few deep broken breaths, "I just- I d-didn't want to worry you guys... I thought I'd- I'd be fine if I waited. You guys always seem fine no- no matter what happens to you, I-I-I thought it was nothing compared to what a-ll of y-you have gone through."

Everyone looked at each other in guilt, not sure if they should straight up say it was their fault for their brother hiding the broken bones, but it was.  
Raph, who was still sitting next to Mike, put his arm around his shoulders and pulled Mikey into a side hug, careful not to hurt him anymore than he already did, Mikey forced the pain out of his mind for a moment, he just wanted to hug his brother, he wrapped his arms around Raph's waist and hid his face in his chest. Raph was almost tempted to push him back so he wouldn't hurt himself. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Miwa took a few steps closer, and Mikey felt her place a hand on his arm "Don't you think we'd be more worried by the way you were acting? Locking yourself away in your room, the pain on your face, not being Mikey. Knowing something's wrong yet not knowing what is more worrying than knowing."  
And now Mikey just felt dumb.

Donnie gave Mikey a water bottle as well as a few pills, which he explained would help with the pain, they tasted dusty and disgusting even with the help of water. Mikey wasn't exactly happy when he learnt that he'd have to take them at least once a day for the next while.

Only an hour, many comfort hugs and Mikey crying over feeling like an idiot later, Leo slowly and carefully helped the boy back upstairs to his bed, it was a weird thought to him, but Leo never noticed until that moment just how small Mikey was, hurt in his arms. Meanwhile, Donnie did get a hold of a doctor just to make absolute sure everything was going alright, thankfully it was. All the while Miwa and Raph went out to pick up pizza for dinner, at Mikey's request of course.

And you know what, sometimes Mikey doesn't realize just how much his family really does love him.  
Sometimes words get to him a little too easily. And sometimes they hurt more than they should. And then Mikey can't forget about it for weeks.

But in the end, he knows the words aren't meant to hurt him. He knows that his family love and care for him.  
Sometimes it just takes one big injury and them freaking over him for him to remember.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope ya enjoyed, because I suffered makin it, lol


End file.
